I found most of them in my area as good as useless to be honest. The local Yam dealer is OK, and the Honda chap has been supplying small Hondas for years, but Suzuki? Forget it, long with all the Italian ones. Hopeless.
Because I was keen on the Kymco, I looked them up and made a point of getting to know the boys at Roadrunner before I ordered the bike, they used to supply Peugeot, until they couldnt cope with the poor service from the importer any longer.
Never had an issue with them since...

spaceprobe wrote:Buying a SYM was a labour of love, when you find a dealer if they have anything in stock it will only be 50cc and 125 machines. I went up to South London to test ride a Joymax. Very shifty looking dealer, I had wallet in hand but he did not seem interested in selling me a bike. I then ended up going to Southampton to get the Maxsym, however I am so glad I did, an amazing bit of kit. Without wishing to upset folks I suspect if SYM UK got their act together and to also sort out their dealers the Burgman 400 would get knocked off its perch. Then buying any maxi scooter in the UK is not easy.

This is the sort of thing that is all too common it seems - its like the car industry 20 years ago. If they haven't got in stock they aren't interested.

I've got a bit of simpathy for somebody trying to run a biusiness thinking twice before jumping in with one of the importers of the smaller/new manufacturers. Support isn't consistent and could evaporate at any minute and bugger up your business for good. It's a big risk.

I've had good service from the local honda and Suzi dealers

I had good dealings with these - http://www.lynxscooters.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

bikerdezzie wrote:I had good dealings with these - http://www.lynxscooters.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Yeah- they look as if they are a bit more together than some other 'dealers' I've seen. Bit far to go for a service though!

spaceprobe wrote:Buying a SYM was a labour of love, when you find a dealer if they have anything in stock it will only be 50cc and 125 machines. I went up to South London to test ride a Joymax. Very shifty looking dealer, I had wallet in hand but he did not seem interested in selling me a bike. I then ended up going to Southampton to get the Maxsym, however I am so glad I did, an amazing bit of kit. Without wishing to upset folks I suspect if SYM UK got their act together and to also sort out their dealers the Burgman 400 would get knocked off its perch. Then buying any maxi scooter in the UK is not easy.

Back in 2008 When I passed my test I phoned up my local dealer Browns Motorcycles in Ottery st Mary and ordered my SYM GTS 250i. Now they are a small family business with a quite small shop and they almost allways have just 'small' 50-125cc scooters/motorcycles on display. The dealer said ''okay i'll get one in''... Week later SYM GTS 250i arrives at the dealer, phones me up, let's me look and gives me the choice of taking it or not, which I did of course. The same happened with all the SYM's I brought from him he didn't have in stock but got them in after a week. This was with past importers Moore large and current inmporter Moto GB.

The only thing I find wrong with SYM is the importer isn't to good, the brochures/website have many mistakes/incorrect specs. When the Maxsym was first added on the website Moto GB had a Kymco downtown pic on it!

Seem to be getting mixed opinions of small dealers around here (West Yorkshire, England)... You seem to find that most small dealers tend to be run by two or more people. One you'll get on fine with who is quite happy to listen to your problems and show an interest, the other just gives the impression it's a chore to be there and deal with you. Problem is when you come across this is you're left with the big boys who want to charge about 30-40% more than the independent dealers.

Bought my Sym Joymax 125i from a small local dealer. Absolutely fine on the first service. Take it back for a warranty claim and everything changes. - You're left wondering if you should continue to take the bike to the same guys or stump up a bit more cash to take it to another dealer.